


the little prince

by brraveheart



Series: the little prince [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 21:32:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9143116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brraveheart/pseuds/brraveheart
Summary: “Gold intends to call the social worker in the morning but for some reason, he never does.” Season 1 AU where Gold raises Henry instead of Regina.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I feel way long overdue with the whole ‘season 1 AU’ thing, but I just rewatched Skin Deep and I just had to. This is gonna be a part of a bigger series (how often have I said that since I began writing?) and I didn’t want to, really, but I freakin’ love Grandpastiltskin and the AU of Henry being raised by Gold.
> 
> It begins like in canon, except Regina eventually realizes the problem with raising an outside baby in a cursed town being that eventually, the kid is probably going to realize that nobody’s aging along with him. So she panics, tries to get Gold to send him back, and Gold just… doesn’t.

He is not entirely sure why Mayor Mills wants a baby.

He figures, _maybe it’s loneliness_. The deafening sound of her own biological clock going _tick-tick-tick-tock_. Maybe it’s the fact that she’s single and too wrapped up in her newest plaything, Sheriff Humbert, to really focus on finding a life partner.

Her request for Gold to broker an adoption had been surprising, to say the least — the proposition had come out of left field, but he’s not really complaining.

He’d brokered many adoptions — would broker many more, if the pending deal for young Ashley Boyd’s baby said anything about it — and the only thing that ever mattered to Gold in the end was the _money_.

_Granted_. He’s not some malicious abuser of children, despite what rumors the town’s grapevine might circulate — _and really,_ he’ll think sometimes, _he swears he’d bludgeon whoever started that appalling rumor that he skinned young children for their pelts to death._

Gold is _sure_ that Mayor Mills _isn’t_ the person somebody would picture if you asked them what they thought of when they heard the word _mother_. She could be impulsive, vindictive, and downright _cruel_ in some instances, and while he himself very much doubted her capabilities as a single mother, she’d come to him with the cash and he could come up with nothing to keep their deal from proceeding.

He procures the child quickly. Roughly a month after birth, a healthy baby boy that’s all pink skin and wrinkles and two _very_ large brown eyes staring sweetly up at him.

Gold has never had children, but looking down at that baby — _well_. He imagines for a moment that this is what it must feel like.

* * *

 

It is relative bliss for about a year afterwards; the townspeople talk, as they are wont to do when unexpected change comes. In this instance, it comes abruptly, a squalling stroller being bustled down Main Street as Regina did her business.

It’s a bit of a thing to witness, watching the mayor struggle with the unexpected hardship of motherhood. She’d anticipated ease; that perhaps the child would come with a timer that wouldn’t go off at two, three, _four o’clock in the morning_.

Still, even _Gold_ has to admit — she wears motherhood well. She obviously cares for the boy, even if he does drive her crazy half the time with his crying. He thinks she’s growing into it, growing to like it, even, until the year is almost up and she comes into his shop, looking wild-eyed and panicky. It’s the look of someone who hasn’t thought everything through; who has just come to a rather _unwanted_ realization.

“Can I help you, Mayor Mills?” he asks, pleasantly enough, but the wild look in her eyes doesn’t fade.

“ _Henry_ ,” she says quietly, and it takes him a moment to remember that’s what she’s named the baby, “I —”

Gold tilts his head to the side, wondering at what’s got her so worked up. “Is something the matter?”

She swallows, a vein in her neck jumping. The wild look in her eyes seems to subside somewhat, and she licks her lips. “I need — I need you to send him back. I can’t. I can’t keep him.”

Her words are stunted and chopped, and she looks like she’s carving out her own heart just to get the words out. But she’s firm in this, this decision — he can see it in her eyes.

“Why ever not?” Gold asks innocently. Really, he’s just curious with all of this fuss — she _loved_ Henry, as far as he and the entire town could tell. She would die to protect that little one, and they all knew it.

So why did she want to give him up?

“I can’t handle it,” Regina says, too flippant. The wild look in her eyes is back and suddenly she reeks of desperation. “The crying, I mean. He cries _all the time_. He’s so _needy_. I can’t get any work done. I can’t _take_ it anymore.”

Gold eyes her for a long moment.  She’s not telling the truth — at least not the whole truth — but she’s actually offering him his money back, plus a year’s worth of interest, and _well_ , if she didn’t understand what she was getting into — it’s hardly his fault, right?

* * *

 

He intends to contact the social worker the night Regina leaves little Henry at Gold’s house — a temporary inconvenience, since Regina had insisted she couldn’t go on another night with the boy in her home.

_Intends to._ But doesn’t. Her line is busy, or it’s too late an hour, or some halfhearted excuse staying his hand. The baby is well-behaved, despite Regina’s insistence of nonstop nighttime crying, staring up at Gold with huge, dark, unblinking eyes. They’re familiar, for some reason — like those he’d seen in a dream.

Gold intends to call the social worker in the morning, but for some reason — he never does.


End file.
